Universal Studios Hollywood

Ever since moving to LA I have been wanting to visit Universal Studios. I’ve been to the one in Florida before and though that is the better theme park -bigger, more rides- this one is park of the actual studio where they make movies and TV shows. After an attempt to go with a friend failed and self imposed delays due to Omicron, I decided to finally go on my day off.

I’ve always wanted to visit a theme park during the off season because in theory you should have the place to yourself. The good thing about Universal is that they don’t open until 10am so you don’t have to get up super early. Also, it’s accessible by the subway so I didn’t have to drive. The only downside is that they have shorter hours and are only open until 6pm. However, since they’re a smaller park with fewer rides, I figured it would be a problem.

I headed downstairs from my apartment at 9am only to realize I’d forgotten to get sunglasses. So I had to go back up to get them. Then, while walking to the subway, I randomly got the thought that my mask was going to break or I was going to lose it. As I approached the subway, I took it off from around my arm and sure enough, the left strap broke. I was able to tie it around my ear and figured if necessary that I could buy a new one at the park.

One good thing that Universal is doing that Disney is not, is checking if patrons are vaccinated or if they have a negative COVID test. Though not full proof, it still made me feel better about my decision to go. I got to the park right as they opened at 10am. I made my way to the Tram Tour for my first “ride.”

Tram Tour

I wanted to do this first for a few reasons, one being that I wanted to “get it over with.” I knew I might not want to do it later in the day. The other being that I knew it was long, the tour is about an hour so if it was going to take a big chunk of my short day, I wanted it to be right at the beginning. I sat on the first tram car near the front.

Our tour guide was really good; older but full of energy and filled with Dad jokes. One let down was that the one thing I really wanted to see, the Hill Valley set, was unavailable because they were filming something in that area. I learned however as the tour went on that the middle of the third car is probably best spot to be.

There is a section of the tour where you get caught in a “flash flood” but we were completely unaffected because the tram is so long. Also, if you want a good view of movie cars, ride on the left. If you want to get attacked by Jaws, ride on the right.

After the tour, I took a quick restroom break before making my way to The Simpsons Ride. I got in line right as they announced the wait time was 45 minutes. Though that typically is not too long to wait for a ride at a theme park, seeing as everything else had a 5-15 minute wait, I decided to bail and headed over to Hogwarts.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

I had been a little nervous that this was not going to be open since, while checking the app the day before I had seen that it was “temporarily unavailable.” Being that this is one of their big attractions it would have been pretty disappointing, however, it was open and was essentially a walk on.

Though I’d ridden it before in Florida I still wanted to ride it again since it had been a long time. I was a little nervous since it previously made me feel a little motion sick. When I got on, I noticed that there was a constant stream of cool air being blown towards you. I didn’t remember this from the last time I’d ridden it and wonder if it was added as a way to mitigate motion sickness if others complained about it.

As we went through the ride, I got to one section where I poked my head forward to look back at the other ride vehicles, I’m still in awe of how this ride works. Shortly after doing this, the ride broke down. I wasn’t sure if it was related to the fact that I had done this or just a coincidence. We were on our backs, half upside down right near the Whomping Willow.

The funny thing was that the audio from the ride kept going but we weren’t doing anything. Eventually the audio stopped and shortly after, we kept moving. However, when we got to the next screen since the dialogue for the scene had already happened, we didn’t hear anything. We continued to go through the ride and when we got to the last screen, it broke down again. Eventually it got going again but there was no video so the ride was moving but we had no idea what the movement correlated with.

It then transitioned to the last scene where we were being congratulated for doing… something. It was really funny. The one thing that I remember from the first time that I have never seen during subsequent ride throughs was this crazy effect. It was this effect where earlier in the ride that take your picture and later when the dementors are sucking your soul, or whatever, the image of your face is projected onto smoke. I only saw this the first time I rode it which makes me think I made it up or that it was too difficult to keep going so they stopped doing it. I don’t know.

Flight of the Hippogriff

After getting off, I walked across the way to the kiddie coaster, the only other ride in the Harry Potter section. I’d never bothered to ride it in Orlando but since there are so few rides at Hollywood, I decided to give it a shot.

I basically got to walk right on and it actually surprised me with how fun it was. Once I was finished, I made my way to the series of four escalators that take you down to the Lower Lot and the rest of the park.

Revenge of The Mummy The Ride

The first ride I did was Revenge of The Mummy. I chose this because in the days leading up to my visit, it had been closed. As is the case with Forbidden Journey, if this is down it’s a big loss because of how few rides there are. To my surprise it was actually open so I wanted to hit it before it got the chance to close on me. The line was basically non-existent and I got on in maybe five minutes.

I had been warned via Podcast: The Ride that this version of this ride pales in comparison to the one on Florida. Luckily I was expecting this so I wasn’t that disappointed by it. The main thing is that it’s shorter and doesn’t include the fake out ending that the Florida one has. It ends on a weird note where it’s implied that the mummy succeeded in taking your soul. Lot’s of soul sucking going on at Universal.

The other thing, and maybe I’m making this up because I haven’t ridden the one in Florida in 8 years, but the theming objects once you’re speeding through the tomb are really lame, like these blacklight mummy’s with swords that look like they belong in a carnival. I don’t thing the Florida version has them. I feel like it has more generic lighting effects that actually look much better.

Jurassic World The Ride

After getting off The Mummy, I went across the way to the updated Jurassic World ride. Previously themed to Jurassic Park, this version adds dinosaurs and characters from the new series. I actually really enjoyed it.

The section with the swimming dinosaur that goes underneath you and splashes you and bangs into the glass is really cool. Even though it’s screens, it looks fairly realistic and is an interesting illusion.

Later in the ride when you’re climbing the lift hill and then are inside the building there are, I think, much more dinosaurs than the original version had and it’s truly scary. Low key, this might have been my favorite ride.

Transformers The Ride 3D

Upon exiting through the gift shop, I made my way to the nearby Transformers ride. This was basically a walk on; most of the wait was due to the amount of time it took to physically walk through the line. I had ridden this before in Florida and as is the case with a lot of the rides, I had no idea what was going on or what we were trying to do. The ride is kind of cool but I remember liking it more the first time I rode it.

Isla Nu-Bar

After banging out all three rides in the lower lot, it was time to reward myself with a drink. I had heard of Isla Nu-Bar, a play on Isla Nublar, the island from Jurassic Park, and knew they had a beer that was exclusive to the park. I was tempted to try one of their mixed tiki drinks but stuck to my guns and got the Isla Nublar IPA. I’m not usually an IPA man but I had to get the exclusive beer. And, because it was fruity flavored, it was actually quite enjoyable.

Having banged out six rides before 1pm (it was 12:42pm) I decided to take a well deserved break and give my Mum a call. I always call her on Fridays, so it was fun to update her from the park, which she wasn’t expecting. Being that I had 5 hours left in the day, I had just done 6 rides in 3 hours and I only had 4 rides left to do, I was cocky that I might have time to hit a bunch of the rides twice.

I took in a bit of the raptor demo before making my way back to the Upper Lot. Since I’d been sitting for a bit and taking my time, by the time I got up there it was almost 1:30pm. I knew there was a Waterworld show at 1:45pm so I made a quick restroom pitstop, then headed in to find a seat.

Waterworld

I was pretty buzzed from the beer being that I hadn’t eaten very much. I got a seat a few rows behind the splash zone and was low and centered. The show soon started but after a few minutes it stopped due to technical difficulties. Seemingly there was an issue with the villain’s microphone. A couple of minutes later it was back up and running.

The woman behind me had been talking about it and I knew she’d seen it before. I asked her when the plane stunt was because I wanted to get a Boomerang of it for my Instagram. She told me that the villain cued it and that was all the heads up I needed. I ended up getting a great shot of it.

After the show ended, a little after 2pm, I took another quick bathroom break before heading to the parks newest ride, The Secret Life of Pets Off The Leash.

The Secret Life of Pets Off The Leash

I was excited to ride this because even though it’s for kids and I’ve never seen these movies, it’s not often you get a chance to ride a new ride. The queue was really cool. You walk through a New York City apartment and see all of these vignettes of the pets doing silly things.

The ride itself was cute. The idea is that you’re a pet, a dog, a cat or whatever, and you’re trying to get adopted. They have these screens that show what you look like as a pet, in my case, a dog. At the end you see a family that wants to adopt you. It was really sweet and my grinch-like heart grew three sizes that day.

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem

Afterwards I crossed the way to Minion Mayhem. This ride exists in Orlando, but I’d never ridden it before since they have so much more choice in attractions. The queue was pretty short, maybe a 10 minute wait. The premise of the ride is that Gru turns you into a Minion and then you go into a theater where you undergo Minion training via a simulator ride. It was ok but now that I’ve done it, I don’t need to do it again.

The ride exits you into Super Silly Fun Land which has a water play area for kids and a spinning ride like Dumbo the Flying Elephant. This is the only ride I skipped. Partially because I didn’t want to do it and partially because I would have felt weird doing it.

Three Broomsticks/Hogs Head Pub

I then crossed the park to go back to Hogsmead to hit the restroom… again, and finally grab some lunch. Quick note on the restroom, the entrances were listed as Boys and Girls but I was surprised they weren’t Wizards and Witches, seems like a missed opportunity.

In any case, I got in line to grab food at The Three Broomsticks and though the line wasn’t too long there was only one cashier so the wait was as long as if it were busy. Plus no one seemed to know what they wanted to order and kept asking all of these dumb questions.

Finally another cashier came, but he took the people behind me instead of taking me. Once he finished cashing out the people behind me, he called me over seeing as I was still waiting. I ordered a shepherd’s pie, sticky toffee pudding and a Hogshead brew. I gave him a little attitude for having not taken me first but oh well. Sorry guy.

As it turned out, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I finished my pie and half my dessert and maybe half of my beer. I felt bad because I was sort of rushing. At this point it was 3:15pm and I still had two rides to do. I probably could have taken my time but I also knew that taking my time probably would help me finish my dessert or beer. I threw the rest of the dessert away, which killed me and took my unfinished beer over to The Simpsons Ride.

The Simpsons Ride

This is clearly the most popular ride in the park as the wait was at 35 or 45 minutes all day. I took my beer into line and got to a point they told me I needed to finish it before I could keep going. I tried to finish it quickly which was a bad idea and made me feel gross. Eventually I gave up and just poured the remainder in the trash.

I should have either sat outside and finished it slowly or just tossed it sooner. In any case, the line ended up not being too bad and I got on in about 20 minutes. I’d ridden it before but there had recently been a PTR episode about it so it was fresh in my brain. Every time I think about the Institute of Future Technology, the former Back to the Future ride that used to be there, it makes me sad that I only rode it once and I closed my eyes half the time. This is yet another screen simulator ride and as usual, it was fine.

Kung Fu Panda Adventure

Finally, I made my way over to Kung Fu Panda. There was basically no line for this, you really just need to wait until the group before you pours out the the pre-show so you can pour in. Then, from the pre-show, you need to wait until the actual show ends for your group to enter.

The pre-show was pretty entertaining although some of the characters were clearly not voice by the original actors which was kind of lame. The show itself is basically just a Kung Fu Panda short where your chair vibrates with the action. I have no idea what was happening but there were some cool effects that happened with projections and the theater which was kind of interesting. Not the strongest of notes to end it on, but nevertheless, it was my last ride of the day.

Conclusion

At this point I was basically running out the shot clock. It was 5pm and the park was set to close in an hour. I didn’t really have enough time to go back to the Lower Lot and ride one of the cool rides again. I didn’t want to leave yet, so I looked through some of the gift shops on main street and restrained myself from buying crap I didn’t need. I then sat at a table and posted an Instagram story before a final bathroom break before leaving.

I had accomplished my mission of riding every* ride (10 + the Waterworld show) in the park in one day. Not a huge accomplishment, but an accomplishment nonetheless. One regret is that I didn’t go with anyone. Theme parks are more fun when you’re not alone. Also, I regret the fact that I kind of rushed through the park rather than drinking it in and looking at every nook and cranny. However, if I ever go back I’ll learn from these mistakes and hopefully resist the temptation to run from ride to ride.

Once exiting the park, I took a picture of the classic Universal Studios Hollywood sign. I contemplated taking a lap of CityWalk but by that time I just wanted to leave. I waited for the shuttle back to the subway and then grabbed the subway home.

*The only thing I didn’t do was the Super Happy Fun Land spinning ride.